Gov. Batt Puts Schroeder On Supreme Court Senior Trial Judge Is The First Republican Appointment To The Court In 35 Years

Gov. Phil Batt on Friday made 4th District Judge Gerald Schroeder the first Republican appointment to the Idaho Supreme Court in 35 years.

Batt chose Schroeder, one of the state’s senior trial judges, over three other candidates nominated by the Idaho Judicial Council from a field of 14 applicants to succeed retired civil libertarian Stephen Bistline.

“Judge Schroeder is a diligent jurist,” Idaho’s first GOP governor in 24 years said. “His role as administrator in his judicial district demonstrates that his organizational skills are superior. Judge Schroeder will bring a solid conservative philosophy and an added dimension to the court.”

He was immediately sworn in by Chief Justice Charles McDevitt, who was joined in Batt’s office by justices Cathy Silak, Linda Copple Trout and Byron Johnson. All four were appointed by retired Democratic Gov. Cecil Andrus.

The last GOP high court appointee was Justice Joseph McFadden, who was named by Gov. Robert Smylie in December 1959.

Schroeder, 55, was selected over Idaho Court of Appeals Chief Judge Jesse Walters, 6th District Judge Lynn Winmill and Boise lawyer Howard Manweiler, a Republican stalwart who contributed hundreds of dollars to Batt’s gubernatorial campaign last year.

“I’m so excited that I’m a little bit tongue-tied,” Schroeder said. “It’s a career dream. I hope to acquit it honorably, diligently, and in the manner I am expected to do.”

The appointment came just more than a year after Schroeder was among the witnesses to the execution of Keith Eugene Wells. The judge attended the Jan. 6, 1994 execution after sentencing Wells to death for the 1990 slayings of two people at a Boise tavern.

It was Idaho’s first execution in more than 36 years.

Another of Schroeder’s high-profile decisions came in November when he dismissed a lawsuit filed by school districts over what they argued was inadequate state funding for public education. He ruled that the foundation for the complaint was removed when the Legislature dramatically revised the school funding formula last year.

Schroeder, a Boise native and Harvard law school graduate, was appointed to the district court in 1975 after serving as a magistrate and probate judge in Ada County. In all he has spent 26 years on the bench.

Batt said all four nominees would have been excellent choices and it was a difficult decision.”He believes in keeping things on schedule, reaching a goal, working to it in a dedicated fashion,” the governor said. “He has a sound judicial philosophy. I would call it a conservative philosophy.”